Tribunal
Legacy Name: Tribunal

He wasn't born a hunter.

He was a quiet, well-behaved Demi adopted by a Jewish family. He spoke their languages, enjoyed their foods, and shared their beliefs. Even from his young age, his mama knew that he would be different -- not just from his unique German Shepherd coat and his glossy black horn, but from his extraordinary gift with all things metal. The Demi could not yet control this ability, and it so rarely manifested that his family saw no need to concern themselves with it; but his mother knew that, one day, the little Demi would change the world.

Then the war came. The Jewish families were forced out of their homes, out of their lives, crammed onto trains and shipped across country lines into horrors they could only imagine. They were led from the train on wobbly legs through the iron gates of a concentration camp; to the Demi's sensitive nose, it smelled like fire and poison and sterile chemicals, and he dug his heels into the barren soil and took the hem of his mother's dress between his teeth. "Don't go in there!" he cried, and the iron of the gate hummed and trembled at his worry. But he was shushed by his nervous mother and hurried along by the shouting Nazis, and so ended up behind the gates of Auschwitz.

Life inside the camp was nothing but disease, slow death, and desperation. The Demi, given the name Tribunal in the hopes that he would forever remain fair and judicious to others, watched his father be led away to showers that he knew were something else entirely. Now his mother was all he had left, and growled and snapped at the hands that sought to take his mama's food. He was still young (the human equivalent of fourteen years), and so he was often beaten down by angry husbands and sons; enraged and incensed, his power manifested in terrible ways -- pocket change became throwing stars and glasses became lobotomy devices. It seemed the Nazis took notice of this -- they put their filthy gloved hands on him, separated him from his beloved mama as they filed back in through the gates after being sent to dig ditches all day, pushed her behind the iron gates with the rest of his people. He fought them; he wanted to run to her, to rip apart that damned gate and be at her side once more, and it took three humans to hold him down as he snarled and cried out for her. "Mama!" His voice was filled with conviction, and the gate groaned and tried to part for him, bending to his will and struggling against the chain holding it shut. He felt the power rising in him, and he tried to grab hold of it, amplify it until the gate shattered and he could find his mama in the startled crowd, but before he could harness his own magnetic power, the butt of a gun slammed into the back of his head, and the world went black.

When he awoke, he was in a dimly-lit room with pictures on the walls, pictures filled with smiles and laughter. A soft pillow was beneath his head, and warm blankets were around his body. Where was he? He struggled to sit up, and was held down by gentle claws on his shoulders; these claws were attached to a dark-colored Velosotor with a worried look on his long face. "Es tut mir leid, dass diejenigen Nazis weh tun so. Geh wieder schlafen, mein Spatz." Sparrow? An oddly affectionate term coming from someone he'd just met. Still, even if he wanted to stay awake, he couldn't -- his head was pounding and his lids were drooping fast, and as he drifted back to sleep, he thought he caught a glimmer of light off of the Velosotor's sharp-toothed grin.

The Velosotor went by the name of Klaus Schmidt, and he appeared to be a doctor of sorts. After Tribunal awoke and felt well enough to move around, Schmidt took him to his office and began asking him about his strange power. The Demi thought it odd that the Velosotor had no owner, no family -- and he wanted nothing to do with the doctor, he merely wanted to be reunited with his own family. Besides, it was impossible for him to call upon his power without the force of his anger -- he felt it sleeping inside him, but was unable to wake it, no matter how hard he strained for the coin on Schmidt's desk. He told the Velosotor so, and he seemed deeply disappointed; even so, he rang the bell that called forth the Nazi soldiers, and they were holding fast to his mother. He ran to her, rubbed his furry cheeks against her knees and tried not to look too happy to see her, but they were quickly separated again. When he looked to Schmidt to see why he was being kept from his mother, the Velosotor had a dark look on his long face and a gun resting snugly in one clawed hand, pointed right at his mother.

'Move the coin or I will shoot.'

Tribunal tried. He strained, he struggled, and he almost cried with frustration, desperate to move the coin with his latent power and save his mother's life. As he made a plaintive bid to move the little bit of metal on the desk, Schmidt counted steadily up from zero, intently watching the coin as it sat, stalwart and unmoving, on the wood. The Demi felt his heart racing behind his heaving ribs, his lungs struggling to take a breath every second as he willed his sleeping power to wake and move he damn coin; how could he twist a tall iron gate to his will but not lift a silly coin from a desk? His prehensile tail swished back and forth frustratedly, clenching and unclenching as he forced every bit of his will into a cone that funneled down to the coin. His gaze shifted worriedly from the coin to the doctor and back, and time seemed to stop as he drove all of his focus into the tiny bit of metal before him, but to no avail.

As the Velosotor's scaly lips formed the word 'drei', the gun went off and his mother dropped like a sack of potatoes. Silence reigned supreme for a few tense seconds, dismay and horror written all over the Demi's face and something like patient disappointment on the Velosotor's. Schmidt had made good on his promise, and though he had the power in him, Tribunal couldn't lift a two-ounce Reichsmark. Then, something inside the Demi snapped: he felt his power roar to life with his anger, his pain, the sheer anguish of losing his mother. As he made a veritable hurricane of surgical instruments, gurneys, and knives that shook the building right down to its foundation, all he could do was scream -- he had lost all that was left of his family, and now, he was all alone.

I was born of the womb of a poisonous man,
beaten and broken and chased from the land;
but I rise up above it, high up above it and see!
I was hung from a tree made of tongues of the weak,
the branches, the bones of the liars and thieves --
rise up above it, high up above it and see!

You are the crisp scent of a new book being cracked open for the first time; you are the glue in the spine, the binding that holds the pages together when they want to fall apart. You are a canary in a cage, preening and singing so sweetly in his captivity. You are the sunrise that broke over the horizon the day you saved my life, the sunrise that breaks through the clouds of my mind when I’m blind in the dark. You are the water in my desert, the salt in my wounds, the damnable tease of blue eyes and red lips innocently dangled before me in the back of a taxi. You are the river that feeds my ocean — clean and fertile and crystal-clear under a too-blue sky.

You are the coin I could not move as a boy and could not let go of as a man. You are the chess set that sits unused and dusty for want of a proper challenger. You are the bloodstained sand dancing in the surf of a not-forgotten beach. You are the scrap of blue and gold I keep in my drawer because I cannot let go of the past.

You are the steady and unrelenting walls upon which I slam my fists when I’m angry. You are the flash of blue in the eyes of a perfect stranger that makes me want to hold them close and snap their neck at the same time. You are the pillow I pretend I don’t hug to my chest in my sleep for want of a body beside me. You are the sheep I count when nothing else will grant me slumber. You are the cool glass in the windowpane I press my cheek to in lieu of your fingertips. You are the Titanic — grand and mighty and brought to the bottom of the ocean by a gentle scrape across your hull.

You are the flower that grows in my winter, frail and fresh and forgiving despite all my transgressions.

You are beautiful, and you are vulnerable, and you have torn yourself apart to find me.

You are my peace, my serenity, the quiet place in my head where I can go to conquer the world.

You are the thing I have loved most.

I have been searching for your touch,
unlike any touch I've ever known
and I'd never thought about you much
'til I'm broken down and all alone

Though I don't understand the meaning of love,
I do not mind if I die trying!
Took you for granted when you lifted me up

I'm asking for your help: I am going through hell!
Afraid nothing can save me but the sound of your voice!
You cut out all the noise,
and now that I can see my stakes so clearly now
I'd kill if I could take you back, but how?

I have been bound by the shackles of love,
and I don't mind if I die tied up
Took you for granted when you lifted me up

I'm asking for your help: I am going through hell!
Afraid nothing can save me but the sound of your voice!
You cut out all the noise,
and now that I can see my stakes so clearly now
I'd kill if I could take you back, but how?

Why must we be so ugly?
But please do not think ill of me!
Why does the one you love
become the one who makes you want to cry?
Why?

Though I don't understand the meaning of love,
I do not mind if I die trying!

Telepath -- My old friend, I want nothing more than freedom for our people. Can't you see that peace isn't an option? Can't you see that they'll decimate what they don't understand? I would give the world for you to understand; I need you by my side...

Measure -- You quote the Bard as if he is your bible, but even that will not bring your 'rose' back to you. I respect you as an artist and a man very important to Charles, but he is mine, and if you touch him, I will twist those ridiculous glasses into your brain until you howl for mercy.

Webwork -- It pains me, what happened to you. You are proof that humans will never accept us the way we are; they will always view us as demons to be exorcised, a cancer to be cut out. The cuts on your arms are proof of that. I would advise you to come with me, but I can see that you are too soft for that. Stay with Charles -- he can take care of you.

Lehnsherr -- Dashing, I must say. Be true to yourself, guard your fellow mutants, and keep safe the memory of Mama. It is my duty to warn you against several things, chiefly falling in love with a certain telepath...

Lionheart -- I owe you more thanks than you could ever realize. If it weren't for you, I would probably be dead...

Addicted -- Perhaps if you crawled out of that liquor bottle you call home and looked around for a change, you'd see just how much the world has changed without you in it.

Night of the Hunter :: 30 Seconds to Mars -- One night of the hunter // One day I will get revenge
Eric's Song :: Vienna Teng -- And of course I forgive // You've seen how I live // I've got darkness and fears to appease // My voices and analogies // ambitions like ribbons worn bright on my sleeve
The Metro :: Sleepthief -- I remember the letter wrinkled in my hand // 'I love you always' filled my eyes
The Last Tears :: Unsun -- I'm not scared of the places where my heart hurts the most // I'm not scared of the moments my mind is full of ghosts // I'm not scared of the words that cut like a knife // I'm not scared of dreams when it's hard to survive the night
Kissing a Fool :: George Michael -- When you need the hand of another man // One you really can surrender with // I will wait for you like I always do
Diamonds and Rust :: Blackmore's Night -- Well you burst on the scene already a legend // The unwashed phenomenon // The original vagabond // You strayed into my arms
Blue Eyes :: Cary Brothers -- 'Cause Blue Eyes, you are all that I need // 'Cause Blue Eyes, you're the sweet to my mean
Never Gonna Leave This Bed :: Maroon 5 -- Wake you up in the middle of the night to say // I will never walk away again // I'm never gonna leave this bed
Angel of Mine :: Amanda Somerville -- Angel of mine, can I thank you? // You have saved me time and time again // Angel, I must confess // It's you that always gives me strength // And I don't know where I'd be without you
I Gave You All :: Mumford & Sons -- How can you say that your truth is better than ours? // Shoulder to shoulder, now brother, we carry no arms // The blind man sleeps in the doorway, his home // If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy, I could have won
You Found Me :: The Fray -- Why'd you have to wait? // Where were you? // Where were you? // Just a little late, you found me, you found me
The Love We Had Before :: Fireflight -- You used to be the one I'd run to // But now I tend to run you right into the ground
Guarded :: Disturbed -- Guarding yourself from the love of another // Left you with nothing tonight
I Never Told You :: Colbie Caillat -- I see your blue eyes every time I close mine // You make it hard to see where I belong to
Shattered :: Trading Yesterday -- Yesterday I died, and tomorrow's bleeding // I fall into your sunlight

Fanpet for Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto from X-Men: First Class (2011), specifically targeting the Cherik ship. I don't own the character(s), only the changes to suit Subeta.
Story, layout and coding by User not found: hamada.
Overlay by kIEL.